


Keeping Each Other Warm

by DKNC



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: F/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-15
Updated: 2018-11-15
Packaged: 2019-08-23 22:04:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16627256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DKNC/pseuds/DKNC
Summary: This was written for Ned/Cat week 2018 on tumblr. The prompt is "keeping each other warm" and with an appalling lack of originality, I decided to make that the title, too.On a journey back from Castle Cerwyn, a mishap with one of their horses leaves Ned and Catelyn stranded along the Kingsroad during a summer snow. Ned reflects on a long ago promise he made to always keep his wife warm and his gratitude for the life-changing warmth she has brought to his life that due to his own verbal reticence, his tightly held secrets, and his overactive guilt complex, he's never felt able to freely express to her.





	Keeping Each Other Warm

“Damn,” Ned swore softly as the horse stumbled again. He stopped walking and ran a gloved hand along the neck of his lamed mount. “It’s all right, boy. I’m not going to make you walk any further.” 

“That horse can’t possibly go another step, Ned.” 

Hearing his own thoughts on the matter echoed matter-of-factly in a feminine voice, he turned to look up at his wife as she reined in her own mount beside him. She’d been riding behind, keeping her impatient mare at a slow walk as he led the injured gelding along.

“I’m sorry, Cat. I never should have . . .” 

“Oh, hush, Ned. You didn’t cause the horse to throw his shoe.”

“Apparently, I didn’t check his hooves well enough before we set out, though. And Lord Cerwyn tried to get us to stay, given the change in the weather.” He shook his head. “I’m a damn fool for . . .”

“Listening to your wife?” Catelyn challenged him, arching a brow. “Mayhap you are, but then you must share the blame with me, my lord, for I am the one who was loath to delay our departure.” She smiled at him. “We’ll manage.”

Just then a gust of wind caused both horses to shake their heads and Catelyn to shiver and draw her hood more tightly around her face, covering all of her auburn hair. “Summer!” she exclaimed with a frown. “I fear a hundred years in the North won’t make me accept snow and summer as things which should coexist. Your lady wife is hopeless southron, my lord.”

Before Ned could protest that assessment, Catelyn smoothly dismounted from her horse, landing lightly in her boots on the muddy Kingsroad without asking his assistance. “Well,” she said, looking up at the sky with a practiced eye. “At least we’ve plenty of daylight left to settle the horses and devise some sort of shelter. And I’d guess we’ve got a good two hours at least before it’s snowing enough to be troublesome so we should at least be able to get a fire going.”

He simply stared at her and shook his head slowly, feeling a smile tug at the corners of his mouth.

“What?” she asked him.

He snorted. “Hopeless southron, my arse,” he muttered, and she laughed. 

“I suppose I have learned a few things about the North, my lord,” she said primly. She looked at the woods on either side of the Kingsroad. “But as to precisely where we should spend the night, I’ll leave that up to you. You’ve far more experience in sleeping out of doors than I have.”

Her words brought the painful reality of their situation back to him, bringing his moment of amusement and admiration of his wife to an abrupt end. Her assessment of the daylight and the likely arrival time of the oncoming snowstorm were spot on, and he mentally calculated the distance remaining to Winterfell which was now closer to them than Castle Cerwyn but not by much. He should have turned back toward Cerwyn as soon as Watcher had thrown the shoe, but Catelyn hadn’t been the only one anxious to reach their home and children. The visit to Cerwyn had been enjoyable enough, all the more enjoyable because Catelyn had agreed to accompany him, but he was more than ready to be home. When the sky had dawned a leaden grey color with far cooler air and a northern breeze that whispered of snow, he’d known they had to ride out as quickly as they could or face remaining at Cerwyn for at least another night or possibly more. Catelyn had been quite vocal about her preference on the matter, and he still believed they could have made the journey easily enough if not for his horse throwing the show and coming up lame. Now he looked at his wife shivering as she looked at him expectantly. “Winterfell,” he said with a scowl. “I’d prefer to have you spend the night in your chambers in Winterfell.”

“So would I,” she replied, rolling her eyes. “But that is not an option. Breeze is a good girl, but she can’t carry us both, and I know perfectly well you aren’t going to just abandon poor Watcher anyway. You said you didn’t think his injury was serious. He just needs a bit of rest, doesn’t he?”

“I have to stay here,” he said. “You don’t.” As he said the words aloud, he almost managed to convince himself they were sensible. “You know the way to Winterfell as well as I do, Catelyn, and you’re a better rider than half my bannermen. You can get there before nightfall.”

“You want me to leave you out here alone?” she said incredulously.

“I assure you I can fend for myself, my lady,” he assured her.

She frowned and changed tactics. “You would send me off alone then? Yes, I can ride to Winterfell easily enough before nightfall if Breeze doesn’t suffer some mishap as Watcher did. Even then, if the snow arrives in force sooner than we hope, it won’t matter that night hasn’t fallen. I can’t ride if I can’t see, Ned. And if I have to stop, I’ll freeze to death if I can’t manage a fire.”

Ned doubted the temperatures would drop enough to truly freeze a person dressed as warmly as Catelyn quite to death this time of year however much it snowed, but she spoke truly enough of the potential dangers of her riding off alone.

“And while there haven’t been bandits in this area that I know of, there are certainly wild animals,” she added.

“Enough,” he said gruffly. “It was a foolish idea from a desperate man who would have his wife safe and warm in her bed rather than out in the snow because of his folly.” He dropped his horse’s lead, walked off the western side of the Kingsroad and looked around at the trees. They weren’t nearly as thick here as in the Wolfswood, but there was a fair sized stand of some larger trees that would offer some shelter to the horses and possibly enough of a wind break to make the night tolerable for Catelyn and himself as well with enough furs and a decent fire.

Several hours later, snow was falling rather thickly around their little campsite, markedly decreasing visibility in spite of the fact that true nightfall was probably still at least two hours away. The days were long in the summer—even when summer brought snows—but Catelyn had been correct in stating it wouldn’t have mattered. Ned wouldn’t have ridden a horse in this weather, much less have wanted his lady wife on one. The trees did give decent shelter from the wind, and mercifully, with the exception of occasional big gusts, this snowstorm was not accompanied by as much wind as some were.

Catelyn sat beside him on a bed of furs spread out over the ground beneath a canopy made of another fur he’d managed to tie up to a couple of trees and some stakes he’d made of sharpened branches. A fire burned far enough away from the furs to keep them safe from burning, but close enough to provide warmth. He watched Catelyn pull the extra fur he had draped over her shoulders more tightly around her and amended that thought. The fire was close enough to provide warmth for him. His wife, however, looked far from warm. He knew she’d be warmer if he held her against him beneath several furs, but they needed to eat something first, and he wanted to check on the horses again.

“Cat? Will you be all right for a moment if I see to the horses and get something for us to eat from the bags?”

She smiled at him. “Ned, the horses aren’t more than thirty paces from us. I can see them, my love. Of course, I’ll be all right.”

“But I know you’re cold,” he said.

“A little,” she said bravely. “But I’ll be fine. Shall I come and help you get the food?”

“No, stay. You can help once I’ve got it here by the fire.” He smiled at her and kissed her forehead.

Both horses seemed content enough, and he rummaged through the bags he’d removed from Watcher’s back and laid on the ground nearby. Watcher was a huge, strong animal which was his chief benefit on large journeys. He wasn’t the fastest horse in Winterfell’s stable and certainly not a mount for sport or battle, but he could carry a rider or even two along with all the supplies you could possibly want without tiring. Lord Cerwyn, reluctant to allow Catelyn and himself to ride out that morning, ( _And thus proving himself a wiser man than I,_ Ned thought ruefully) had loaded them up with extra furs for which he was now exceedingly grateful. Before heading back to Cat with the food, he paused to give the big gelding one last pat. “We’ll get your leg better,” he said. “We’ll get you home slow and easy, and Hullen will know just what to do for you.” He then picked up the satchel containing the dried meat and bread as well as the flask of ale, and laughing, said, “Now you live up to your name, boy, and watch over my lady tonight. Holler good and loud if anything spooks you.”

Catelyn had heard his words as well, and he heard her laughter as he walked back to her. The horse had originally belonged to Benjen who had named him Watcher on the Wall as he was foaled during the year he’d spent trying everything possible to convince Ned to let him join the Night’s Watch. Of course, when Ned had finally relented and allowed him to go, he’d not taken Watcher with him, declaring that Winterfell was the horse’s home and there he should remain. Ned had felt the same about his brother and still grieved the fact that Ben was on the Wall instead of safe at home. Were it not for Cat and the children she’d given him, he’d be the only Stark in Winterfell. Even with his wife and children, the emptiness left by the deaths or departures from his life by his parents and siblings sometimes left him feeling colder than any snow in summer or winter. At those times he would reach for Catelyn’s warmth just as desperately as she reached for him when cold air chilled her. He could never find the words to explain that to her, though.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked when he reached her.

“Because you are beautiful. Because you are . . . you. And I am beyond glad of it.”

She smiled. “Here,” she said, rising and reaching out a hand. “Give me those things and let me warm them up a bit before we put them in our bellies.”

“Are you cold?”

“A little,” she said once more. “But I can do what needs doing.” 

He looked at the proud tilt of her head and the way she lifted her chin and looked right at him as she spoke. He loved that about her. As he watched her move toward the fire and begin working with the food, he was struck by the memory of the first time he’d asked her if she were cold.

_The laughing women had finally shoved him into the bedchamber and closed the door behind him. In spite of having very little to drink, he felt rather disoriented and out of sorts after having so many strange hands upon him tearing away at his clothing until he found himself standing here naked as his name day staring at the closed door._

_“My lord?”_

_The soft voice caused him to turn around, and he saw her standing there in the room as naked as himself. Her cheeks flushed as he looked at her, but she did not look away from his face. He did, however, look away from hers. He could not keep his eyes from moving down over her lovely naked form, and when he brought them back upward, he saw that her flush had deepened and reached even the tops of her pale, full breasts._

_“Forgive me, my lady,” he stammered._

_“There is nothing to forgive, my lord,” she said bravely, although he could hear the slight tremor in her voice. “A man may gaze upon his wife, and there is no shame in a wife’s nakedness before her husband.”_

_“No, there’s not” he said, not knowing what else to say. Then he forced himself to turn away from her because he was ashamed of his body’s reaction to the sight of her there in the firelight and worried that she might look down toward his cock and think him some sort of rutting beast._

_“Do I not please you, my lord?” She still spoke evenly, but he thought he heard uncertainty in her voice, perhaps even a touch of fear._

_“P—please me?” he sputtered, turning to look at her face once more. “You are . . . you are very beautiful, my lady. It is only that I . . . I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”_

_“My name is Catelyn,” she said then._

_“I know your name, my lady,” he assured her awkwardly._

_“Yes.” She hesitated and bit her lip slightly before continuing. “I think this might be more comfortable . . . for me . . . if you called me by my name, my lord.”_

_“Very well,” he said, hating the way his voice sounded so stiff and formal. “And you must call me by mine.”_

_“All right, Eddard.” She smiled a bit and almost giggled upon saying his given name._

_“Ned,” he said softly. “My family calls me Ned.”_

_“Ned,” she said softly. Then she shivered visibly._

_“Are you cold, my lady?” he asked. He thought the room was too hot, but he supposed she might be chilly without any clothes on. Her nipples certainly stood up firmly. He swallowed hard as he tried not to stare at her breasts._

_“A little,” she admitted. “But that is not why I shivered.”_

_“I . . . I’ll get something to warm you.” He looked around the room and saw that nothing had been provided for them in the of way clothing that he could see, and he found himself angered by the lack of so much as a robe to keep the chill from his new wife. Striding to the bed, he pulled the quilt off the top of it and walked over to her, draping it over her shoulders._

_She smiled up at him, her cheeks flushing once more. “Thank you, my . . . Ned. But I believe you are supposed to take me to the bed rather than bring the bed to me.”_

_“Oh! I . . . Yes, my lady. I mean, Catelyn.” He swallowed once more. “I have no wish to frighten you.”_

_“I know. Forgive my trembling. I assure you I am ready to be your wife.”_

_He found himself without words again and simply leaned his face toward hers until he was kissing her. Only their lips touched as his hands rested on the quilt covering her arms. This wasn’t the chaste brushing of lips they’d shared in the sept, but it was still soft and gentle as if both of them feared what must come next and sought some comfort rather than passion. When their lips parted, it was she who gently removed his hands from the quilt so that she might let it fall to the floor. She shivered again as it fell and he wondered if that tremor was from cold or fear. But she took his hand and led him to the bed and he gently laid her down upon it._

_“I have no wish to hurt you, Catelyn, but I fear you will have some pain however slowly I go, and I am sorry.”_

_“It’s all right, Ned. I’m not afraid of you,” she said, and then she smiled up at him bravely and he gently lay atop her kissing her soft flesh first timidly and then with more abandon as his body’s desires began to override more rational concerns. She kissed him as well and wrapped her arms around him as she let him touch and kiss her as he wished. He tried to go slowly. He tried to go so slowly he thought he might die, but she still cried out sharply when he finally pushed inside her and her lovely face contorted into an expression of pain. When he stilled, however, she held him tightly and would not let him pull away, so he began to move, slowly and carefully until he could not be careful any longer and he spilled himself inside her.  
He lay atop her as his senses returned and his breathing slowed until he realized he was likely crushing her. She’d made no sound since her one cry of pain, and he gently raised himself above her and looked into her eyes. “Forgive me for hurting you, my lady.”_

_“There is nothing to forgive. And I asked you to call my name.”_

_“I promise, Catelyn, that I will never hurt you intentionally. And whether you consider it my offense or not, I am still sorry that I caused you any pain.” He rolled away from her then and lay on his back looking up toward the ceiling._

_“It wasn’t so bad,” she said softly after a moment. He heard movement beside him and turned his head to see that she had rolled onto her side and was looking at him. “In truth,” she said, flushing once more, “some of it felt . . . quite nice.”_

_“I am glad,” he replied. Then he decided to offer her his honesty in response to her own regardless of how awkward it felt to speak of this. “For myself, Catelyn, it felt . . . wonderful. All of it. And . . . I hope that I can make that true for you as well.”_

_She shivered._

_“Not now,” he said hurriedly. “Now, I would have you sleep, my lady. Rest and recover. We are wed in all ways now, and we needn’t do this again until you are ready. But then I hope to . . . well . . . I hope it will be better for you.”_

_“I think you are a very kind man, Eddard Stark,” she said softly. “Ned,” she added almost in a whisper. “I will be ready again on the morrow. I wish to give you an heir, my lord, before you ride to ride war.”_

_He looked at this beautiful woman who was now his wife and thought she was the most terrifyingly honest and straightforward person he’d ever met. “We’ll let tomorrow take care of tomorrow, Catelyn. Now sleep.”_

_She laughed and shivered once more. “I fear I cannot sleep like this, my lord.”_

_“Are you frightened of me? You needn’t be.”_

_“I told you I am not frightened of you. I was frightened a bit of what we had to do. And now, I’m no longer frightened of that, either.” She grinned at him. “But I’m cold. And the quilt is on the floor.”_

_He laughed out loud then, climbing from the bed to retrieve the quilt. He laid it over her and tucked it in around her. “Cold doesn’t bother me, my lady.”_

_“Cat,” she said suddenly._

_“What?”_

_“My family calls me Cat. You’re my family now.”_

_He lay down beside her on the bed and reached out to touch her lovely hair as her head was the only part of her not wrapped in the quilt now. “Cold doesn’t bother me, Cat,” he said. “But I promise you that I will defend you against the cold always. I will keep you warm.”_

_She smiled at him. “That’s quite a promise, you know. To keep me warm in the North where they say it snows even in summer.”_

_“Oh, it does!” he assured her solemnly. “But only sometimes.” He returned her smile. “But you still have my promise.”_

_They gradually fell asleep and when he woke the next morning he found her curled up against him, having sought out his promise of warmth in her sleep in spite of the thick quilt which still covered her._

“You are a thousand leagues away, my love.” Catelyn’s voice raised him from his reverie.

He smiled, “Oh, I don’t think Riverrun is quite a thousand leagues away from here.”

“Riverrun?” she exclaimed, handing him a plate and a mug of warm ale. “I’ll bet it’s not snowing there!”

“I’m not taking that bet. It wasn’t snowing on the evening I was remembering either.”

“Ah,” she said with a smile. She knew him better than anyone. Sometimes better than he knew himself. They’d come a long way from those nervous strangers locked naked in a bedchamber together at her family’s castle. Almost ten years had passed since then. They’d suffered some hard times and he’d hurt her more than she ever deserved to be hurt, but they’d made four beautiful children and found their way to a deep abiding love that took both of them by surprise. “Are you going to attempt to get out of your promise?”

“Not on your life. Let the Northern winds do their worst! My lady shall be warm this night.”

“When will night fall, do you think?”

“Hard to tell in this weather, but probably within an hour or not much more. I don’t think the snow will last more than three or four more hours so I imagine they’ll be riding out to look for us at first light.”

“The raven you sent from Cerwyn early this morning,” she replied in understanding.

“Aye. I fear the two of us will sleep better than a great many people in Winterfell when we fail to show up as expected. They’ll assume we’re stranded by snow and come out in force to find us as soon as they’re able. Meanwhile, Watcher can rest that leg of his and hopefully limp his way back home without too much difficulty by then.”

“Ben’s horse will be fine, Ned.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Your beard is so cold!” she laughed.

“It keeps my face warm, though,” he replied. “I hope Ben’s does the same,” he added softly.

“I miss him, too,” Catelyn said. “But he does well on the Wall. And he seems content with his choice in his letters to us.”

“Aye.” Ned just wished he could be certain that Benjen had truly been as interested in running to the Night’s Watch as running away from the past. He and Ben never spoke about what happened at the Tower of Joy or anything that led up to it, but Ned knew his younger brother knew more of Lyanna’s story than he’d ever revealed. Ned could never ask him about it though, because he could never allow Ben to ask him the things he’d never revealed. What Benjen might suspect or guess, Ned couldn’t control. But he wouldn’t burden him with the knowledge. He wouldn’t burden any of his family with the knowledge. Regardless of the price—even if that price had become much higher than he’d ever dreamed.

“Ned? You’ve gone quiet again. And you’re frowning. “

“Sorry. I was just thinking we should probably lie down for the night. True dark won’t last long once the storm passes, and I’d like us to get at least a couple hours sleep before our rescuers arrive”

She bit her lip and looked worried. “I hope they didn’t tell the children we were coming home this evening. I hate to think of them worried for us. Bran won’t understand, of course, and even Arya won’t really understand. But Robb and Sansa will. If they were told to expect us, and we’re not there, they’ll be frightened, Ned.”

_Jon will be, too,_ Ned thought. Aloud, he said, “Hopefully, no one said anything to them. We can’t do anything about it now, anyway, my love. Take comfort in the fact that we are safe, and all of them will be attempting to climb in your arms at once tomorrow.”

That made her smile. She’d enjoyed this brief reprieve from her duties at Winterfell, including the duties of caring for the children, he knew. But a brief reprieve is all she could stand. Keeping Catelyn away from her children was like keeping her away from air. You could only do it for so long. He had been most gratified to see her revel in their time together without the children, even if it made him feel selfish. He’d had legitimate business to conduct at Cerwyn, but a chance at having his wife to himself for a few days certainly motivated him toward coming to answer Lord Cerwyn’s concerns as promptly as he did. Now, he took the plates and mugs back to the saddle bag so that Catelyn wouldn’t have to stir from near the fire and came back to arrange the furs beneath them and those to lie over them to provide maximum warmth.

Then he lay back and pulled his lady into his arms, determined to keep her warm throughout the night. He had no intention of actually sleeping. There was no great risk of attack here, but he would take no chances with Catelyn. He would lie beside her rather than stand guard elsewhere, however, because the cold was an enemy he’d sworn to defend her from years ago. She nestled against him beneath the furs and yawned.

“Are you cold, my love?” he asked her.

“No,” she said sleepily. “I’m wed to a man who keeps his promises.”

He kissed the top of her head and let his mind drift to the morrow when they would be with their children. And then to that evening when he could lay her down in her bed at Winterfell and show her just how much he loved her. As he lay awake watching the snow fall beyond their little nest of furs, Ned Stark knew that whatever bitter cold he fended off for his lady wife, it could never compare to the deep cold of grief, despair, and guilt that too often threatened to pull him under. She may never know that her arms kept him safe and warm and pulled him back from that precipice time and again. But he knew it well. Even if he couldn’t say it.

“I’ll keep your flesh warm, my love,” he whispered to his sleeping wife. “Until my dying day. And as long as I have you by my side, you shall keep my heart warm. And that heart will love you more each day you live.”

The snow stopped falling sometime around the Hour of the Wolf, and Ned heard the first shouts so soon after dawn that he knew his men had left Winterfell before first light. They were good men.

“Cat,” he said, attempting to wake her gently. “Our Winterfell men are here. I can hear Jory’s loud mouth above all of them.”

She opened her blue eyes and smiled. “I’m very warm,” she responded. “Do you think we can just lie here until they find us?”

He grinned at her. “As tempting as that might be, my lady, I’d better go out to the road and wave them down. We have some little people awaiting us, remember?”

“Oh, yes!” she exclaimed joyfully. She then sat up and began shoving him. “Go on, then! Let’s get home to our babes,” she exclaimed.

He kissed her soundly on the mouth and stood to go. As he walked away, he thought he heard say softly as if speaking to herself, “I will hold your heart and keep it warm forever, Ned Stark.”

Startled, he almost turned back to ask her if she’d truly spoken, but Jory Cassel came crashing through the trees just then shouting, “My lord! Thank the gods! Are you well? Is the Lady Catelyn well?”

His mind still full of the words he’d heard from his wife, he turned back and saw her now standing up and fastening her hooded cloak before walking toward them with a smile on her lovely face.

“Yes, Jory,” he said finally. “We’re very well indeed. We stayed quite warm. We always do.”


End file.
